richard engel is back with us. he's one of the best reporters around the world regularly risking his life to report from war zones across the middle east. we're very happy he's safe and sound tonight, and we'll be right back. >>> welcome back to "hardball." by most accounts the two sides in the fiscal cliff talks are moving closer and closer to striking a deal. well, can they do it on time? look, see where the sides stand right now. on the one hand, you have president obama proposing new revenues of $1.2 trillion, that's 1.2, and spending cuts of the same, $1.2 trillion. the offer from speaker boehner is not far off. he's proposing a revenue increase of just $1 trillion and $1 trillion in spending cuts. he's a smaller package than the president. in terms of who would pay their tax rates, see them go up to the clinton level rates, president obama's latest offer talks about people making over $400,000. he's moved up from $250,000 to $400,000. which he's been pushing. speaker boehner wants those tax hikes to affect